I know, I forgot to say 'blasphemy' in the last chapter...:(

Don't worry!! I'll have it twice in this chapter!
BTW: This Chapter Is So Long, I'm Splitting It Into 2 Parts!!!!


Along the way into the city Gai nearly had a small run-in with a woman; however, at the last moment, he leapt out of the way, cowering behind Jade.

"Gai?" Luke asked,

"That's a little...quirk he has," Jade said, "Gai can't stand being near women."

"N-no--" the blonde argued, stepping away from Jade, "I can be near them--I-I just can't stand them touching me--eeee!!"

"What like this?" Erika leaned her elbow on the blondes shoulder, examining the nails of her other hand idly. Gai stiffened severely; mouth twisted like he wanted to scream, and eyes wide,

"Ya-hhhaaaa!! Get off!!" he sprung away grabbing onto the nearest lamppost, "Erika! Don't do that--please!!"

"Sorry." the girl said, "I just thought I'd show Luke what's up with you, eh?"

"Wh-what's up wi--"

"It's Blasphemy!" Anise said, "Why're you so afraid?!"

"I don't know!" the blonde said, climbing down from the lamppost.

Ten minutes letter...

"Is this the place...?" Tear asked, peering up at a blue neon sign of a stumbling penguin, a black-neon top hat sitting atop his head and a green-neon necktie tied around his neck, holding a small martini glass with a yellow-neon lemon wedge stuck on one edge. Beneath it, in magenta neon, it said 'The Dizzy Penguin'.

"Yeah--I saw it while I was handing out flyers today..." Luke said, he felt a little proud when he saw one of the Cirque de Auldrant flyers stuck in one of the windows. "Its--"

"A bar." Natalia said, reading the small sign on the door which said 'Bar/Tavern.' one beneath it said, 'ID all those who appear to be under 21 if you want Alcohol --I don't want to be sued--'

"How nice, she's watching out for our health." Jade said, somewhat sarcastically, as he adjusted his glasses,

"More like she's watching out for herself..." Guy responded, "She just doesn't want to get sued."

"Let's go in!" Anise suggested cheerfully.

"What?!" Luke demanded,

"What 'what'? I said: Let's go In!"

"New Guy's right," the blonde agreed, "Erika, Jade and I are the only ones actually old enough to drink. Why would you all want to come in here?"

"It's a tavern, too." the little girl argued with a sly smirk, "Let's just eat dinner here--we don't have to drink..." she glanced to Erika somewhat hopefully,

"I'm not buying you any alcohol, Anise." Erika told her flatly, "No way. Not after how mad Peony was last time when we found you passed out in a field." the girl gave her an annoyed pout,

"Humph...you're no fun!" /Wh-what kind of person gives a Thirteen-year-old Alcohol!?\ Luke thought, staring at Erika,

"Wh-what?" the girl asked, "S-Stop looking at me like that!"

"Well, even if it is a bar--Anise had a point..." Tear said, "At the very least, we can eat here tonight... Let's go in."

"Alright..." everyone agreed somewhat reluctantly. Suddenly a man burst out of the door, he was around somewhat close to six feet tall, and he had shaggy brown hair and a neck-beard. A red cape was tied around his shoulders and a plush spider clutched in one hand,
"I'm not Steve!" he exclaimed towards the group, "I'm Super Steve!!!" he thrust the spider forward, "This is my pet spider--his name is Peppy!! He Likes To Eat MELONS!!!!" he then took off running into the street where he was almost hit by a police car which screeched to a halt. A somewhat short tan man with short black hair jumped out of the car, a stun gun in one hand. He chased the drunken man down the street and out of sight. Luke noticed that the police car said 'PolicemanMobile'.

One of Luke's eyes twitched as he stared after them,

"W-what the...?" he asked softly. He was about to head back to the circus, appetite practically gone, when someone firmly grasped the back of his jacket,

"C'mon, New Guy." Gai's voice said; the blonde tugged the back of the boy's jacket. Luke groaned softly, but followed once his jacket had been released.

The inside looked the same as it had earlier that day, however now it was lit; the light was slightly dim, and a touch orangey; the lights over the bar seemed to be just a little brighter. People were sitting at most of the tables, waiters and waitresses walking around. A girl wearing glasses with blondish hair held up by a clamp on the back of her head was standing by a small desk which said 'Wait to be seated'. The nametag she wore said 'Co-owner' and then below it said 'Kirsten'.

"Hey, welcome to The Dizzy Penguin." she greeted. She glanced back towards the bar, "Uh...Joe?"

"I'm fine." the man from before called,

"But the guy..."

"I said 'I'm fine'!"

An obviously drunk blonde man was sitting at the bar, hitting on the bartender whom Luke had given the flyers to earlier that day. The bartender seemed to be flirting back. The customer reached over the bar, and the bartender took his hand, smirking somewhat suggestively. However, when the customer actually climbed over the bar the bartender yelled,

"KIM!!!" as if on cue, and empty beer bottle flew across the bar, crashing into the back of the customers head and laying him flat on the bar, out cold. "Thank you." the person who threw the bottle, a dark skinned waitress with short black hair, beamed and gave the boy a thumbs up.

"Joe!!" the owner, Kirsten, called, "Did he sign the waver?!"

"Uh..." the bartender scratched the back of his head, "M-maybe...?" he asked innocently,

"It's Cid!" she said, "Didn't he sign one?! He comes here all the time!"

"I'm sure we've got one of his wavers somewhere..." he responded, pulling off the multiple empty beer-glasses on the counter two at a time and putting them in the sink. "He hasn't paid any of his bar tabs."

"He should be Joe's slave." a tall blonde girl agreed; she had chin length blonde hair, a key hanging from one of her earrings. She was holding a clipboard, the back of which said 'Dizzy-Talent-Night'. She was closer to the group, allowing them to read her nametag, 'Co-Owner' on one line, outlined in red; then beneath it in dark blue, was written 'Gina'. Next to her name was a penguin like the one on the sign outside. "That'd pay his tab off, right?"

"Really?" the blonde man asked hopefully, blushing slightly.

"Sure, why not?" however, their attention was quickly diverted.

"Wavers, here." Kirsten said suddenly shoving a paper in everyone's hands, "Sign them." she ordered, "Then you'll be seated."

"R-right." Luke agreed; Kirsten then turned to talk with Gina.

Erika quirked an eyebrow as they read the 'wavers' that the co-owner had handed to them, she read aloud,

"Hey, listen to this," she said, "'If you are hit in the head with a beer bottle (cigarette ash tray, plate, etc...) you will admit you had it coming and/or did something to deserve it. No responsibility will be placed on the staff for your bodily injuries if your run in with a beer bottle (cigarette ash tray, plate, etc...) was beneficial to the other patrons at the Dizzy Penguin.'"

"Beneficial?" Asch grunted,

"Shh! I'm not done!" Erika told him, and then continued reading, "'We will add an additional 15 on your bill if the ambulance is called, 25 if its the police, and 35 if you were seriously injured and put in the hospital.'"

"Wait," Luke asked, confused, "We pay if something they did hurts us?"

"Apparently." the girl responded.

"I suppose that man, 'Super Steve', who ran out of the bar earlier had to pay extra, didn't he?" Jade commented.

After a little light discussion, they decided that all of this was on Peony's tab anyway; they each signed their waver and turned them over to Kirsten.

"Good," she turned towards a waitress with slightly tanned skin wearing glasses. Her black hair was pulled back into a ponytail which sat high on the back of her head, "Kayla, they signed the wavers--show them to a table." Kayla quickly led them to a large circular table with four curving booth seats around the table. Two people sat in each booth seat; a fair sized orange candle in a glass cylinder was placed on the table near each seat to give them extra light. Jade sat next to Erika, Asch next to Natalia. With Gai's special 'condition' Luke volunteered to sit next to him; leaving Tear and Anise to sit next to one another.

"Okay, welcome to the Dizzy Penguin," Kayla greeted, passing out eight menus to all of them, "I'll be your waitress tonight, Joe is the bartender," she nodded back to the bartender who was now filling four different drinks practically simultaneously, "Kim will help you if I'm busy," she nodded to the dark skinned girl who was delivering a check to another table, "And Gina will make sure your meal's going well, and will introduce the uh... 'Talents' for tonight."

Luke jumped when he heard another glass shatter. A man to whom Kim had been delivering his check now had a plate broken over his head,

"Kim!" Kirsten called from the door. A brunette teen, clad in red with navy pants and brown suspenders, along with a ditzy-looking blonde girl dressed in white with blue trim, were standing there. Kirsten had apparently been hading them their 'Wavers'. The blonde girl took a step forward and tripped, seemingly over nothing, falling flat on her face; her red-clad friend quickly helped her up.

"What?" Kim asked,

"Every time we you deliver a check to a customer you break a plate! What the heck?!" the woman said, "We're going to run out of plates!!"

"They keep flirting with me!" she whined innocently, "It's not my fault!!"

"Drinks up." Joe called from the bar; having delt with a situation similar to this one so often he had come to just ignore it.

"Er..." Kayla smiled nervously, "Uh...I-I'll give you a minute to uh...make your drink selection--If you want something from the bar, just go up and ask." she then quickly left. The brunette and blonde from the doorway were soon seated, by Kirsten, near the large group.

At another table was a boy in a tight white shirt with a few odd dark green stones attached at the shoulder of the shirt, while navy jeans with the bottoms ripped off covered most of his legs; he had a head of silver-white hair, a horizontal cut across his forehead and then another slicing through it down over his left eye. With him sat a girl with blonde hair, a few flowers in her hairpiece; she was wearing a brown and pink outfit which sort of resembled a dress. A rather curious sparkling blue butterfly sat on the girls shoulder; ever now and then its wings would twitch slightly.

An orange mouse-like creature scampered by Natalia's legs, casing the girl to jump. The mouse ran to a man with greenish hair, the back in a long braid; he wore a teal breastplate over a black long sleeved shirt. A navy cloth wrapped around his waist, hanging to his knees, and jeans fell to his boots. As he scolded the small creature his partner, yet another blonde girl, this time dressed in a pretty maroon dress, sent Natalia an apologetic look. The trapeze-artist waved one hand carelessly, indicating that she didn't need to apologize.

The redhead looked over the menu, seeing many foods listed there as well as a fair variety of sodas and juices. Like Kayla had instructed, at the bottom it said 'For any Alcoholic drinks, please go to the Bar'.

"Ors!!"

"...And you're really over 21?" Joe's voice asked. Luke noticed Tear staring at something in the way she usually did when she found something extremely cute and/or adorable. The redhead glanced back and then did a double take. At the bar sat an... oversized otter, dressed in green with a hat like Robin Hood on his head, and a small harp on his back,

"He's cute Joe!" Kirsten said, "It doesn't matter!!"

"Alright..." he sighed, "What'll you have uh..." he glanced down at one of the infamous Wavers, "...Pippo?"

"Ors!" the otter chirped happily in a cutely high pitched voice; the otter quickly placed his drink, and then skipped back over to a table across the Tavern where two other otters were sitting. One was dressed in red, maps sitting in a container on its back; the other dressed in yellow, on it's back was a large wrench.

"Are those otters?" Luke asked to nobody in particular, staring at the three creatures who were talking happily.

"They're so cute..." Tear sighed, smiling at the three small creatures. After brief examination, Jade and Gai agreed at once,

"They're otters." /Otters in a bar...?\

"Well, now that that odd mystery is settled," Jade said somewhat abruptly, standing, "I think I'll go to the bar. Excuse me." he then walked to the bar.

"Hmm..." Gai considered the thought for a moment, "I guess I will too."

"Wh-what?" Luke stuttered--he didn't picture Gai the type to drink...

"Don't worry," the blonde assured, giving Luke a brief smile, "I don't drink anything strong." he then proceeded to the bar as well.

Kayla soon returned to the table, a small pad of paper and pen in hand. She ducked, almost at the last instant, avoiding three plates; then effortlessly caught a glass which almost hit Anise.

"Heh, sorry about that." she apologized. She tossed the glass over her shoulder at a customer that was complaining loudly; it crashed into him and he fell silent.

"Woah..." Luke mumbled.

"Alright, have you all decided on drinks?" while Tear and Natalia each ordered sweet tea and water, everyone else ordered some form of soda.

Asch ordered Coke.

Erika ordered Root Beer.

Anise ordered Mountain Dew.

Luke, not accustomed to such a large selection of drinks, just picked one. Cherry Pepsi. He liked cherries, so cherries in soda should taste good.

"Anything for those two?" Kayla asked, motioning to Gai and Jade's empty seats. She probably wasn't aware they went to the bar,

"Water." Erika answered simply; the waitress scribbled down the word 'water' and then left to fulfill the orders.

Anise was quickly absorbed in watching an odd creature flap around above them. It was a tiny tan creature with dark tan stripes, a surprisingly large head and big blue eyes. Wings, seeming almost too small to support it, were attached to its tail, flapping furiously and keeping it airborne; it was actually rather funny to watch it fly around. Especially considering it's circles were oddly shaped, and he seemed to slowly dip lower and lower. Its odd flight eventually carried it towards the wall near the table where the red-clad teen and blonde ditz were sitting. The creature seemed to pass out mid flight, sailing with a soft 'splat' into the wall; it fell through the air, landing right on the blondes head. She smiled in an oblivious manner up at the creature,

"Awww...Look, Lloyd--he's sleeping!" she said cheerfully. A sweat drop slid down the red-clad teens head. Luke noticed that Erika perked up ever so slightly at the mention of 'Lloyd'; she glanced at the boy, and then looked back to the table. The redhead couldn't identify the next expression on her face; however it seemed a mix of confusion and slight disappointment. He decided to ask her about it later.

"Hello!" Gina greeted, speaking into the microphone on stage, "Welcome to the Dizzy Penguin," there was a brief 'boo', however she then hurled a plate like a frizz-bee at the patron and they fell silent. "Okay! First up for our talents tonight is...Pippo, Poppo, and Quppo with the..." she squinted slightly at her clipboard, "Oresoren Victory Dance."

"Ors!!" the three otters from before chirped at once, jumping down from their chairs and marching up on stage. There was a choking noise from near them as the silver haired boy choked on his drink,

"S-Senel?" his blonde friend asked worriedly, "Senel, are you alright?"

"W-what are they doing here!?" the boy coughed out.

It was somewhat entertaining to watch; the three otters skipped around on the stage chirping 'Ors' in an almost catchy rhythm as they danced.

"That's so cute!" Tear sighed; she, Natalia, and Anise seemed to think that the three dancing otters were the coolest thing ever, while Erika said,

"Eh... Yeah, it's cute I guess."

"Ors, ors-ors!!" they finished, sticking their arms up into the air. They recieved a fair amount of applause from the crowd, especially from the women whom loved watching the three cute creatures jumping around on stage and trying to sing.

"My, my, what an interesting act." Jade said, taking his seat next to Erika; he had a medium sized glass filled with brownish-amber liquid.

"What is that?" Natalia asked,

"Scotch." he responded. Gai had a twice-normal-size shot glass filled with orange liquid.

"What did you get?" Luke asked as the blonde as he sat down.

"Orange Liquor." he responded.

"We'll have our next Dizzy-Talent member up in a few," Gina said as the three otters filed offstage, "Enjoy your food, folks!"

"Why didn't the Ringmaster come with us?" Tear asked as everyone began looking over their menus,

"He enjoys having time to himself." Jade responded, squeezing juice from the lime wedge into his drink, "Also, it's time for him to think of new routines that he knows we wouldn't approve if we were there."

"Great..." Asch sighed.

"Here are your drinks." Kayla had returned, this time holding a large black tray with the drinks sitting on top. She passed each drink out to its corresponding person, "Alright, are you guys ready to order?"

"Give us a few more minutes, please." Natalia asked,

"Alright, I'll come back and take your orders in a few minutes." She assured, then left. Luke looked behind her just in time to see a strange looking person enter. It was a tall man with long black hair which was pushed away from his face by a red headband; his crimson red eyes stood out against the pale complexion of his face. A crimson cape with a collar high enough to hide the lower half of his face was buckled around his shoulders; a bronze claw covered his left hand, and pointed bronze boots covered his feet.

"...I'm here to pick up Cid." he told Kirsten,

"Right there, Vincent." the woman said, pointing to the bar. Vincent sighed softly, shaking his head slowly as he approached Cid,

"...Right..." As the black haired man asked Joe for Cid's bar-tab, Luke heard Anise squeal,

"Eeeew! You're getting tofu?!" she was giving Tear a disgusted look.

"I've tried tofu before, it wasn't bad." Tear responded, "I'd like to have it again." Luke remembered he still didn't know what he was going to order and looked back to his menu.

He was used to classy five-star menus, so this selection of food rather...confused him. He looked to Gai,

"Uh--wh-what are you getting?" he asked,

"Dunno." Gai responded, studying his menu. "Hmm...probably a pizza or something." Luke decided to look for things that he recognized...hmm... well what did he recognize? Aside from pizza he recognized 'chicken sandwich w/ Cole slaw and fries'. He wasn't entirely sure what 'Cole slaw' and 'fries' were, but hey; they couldn't be bad, right/Guess I'll go with that.\ he decided.

"How are we paying for this?" Tear asked,

"We're not," Jade explained simply,

"What...?" she asked. He pulled out a small bright green plastic rectangle,

"The Ringmaster lent me his credit card," he said with a somewhat evil smirk, "Everyone enjoy this; it's on Peony's tab."

"He lent it to you, eh?" Asch asked over his menu, raising an eyebrow.

---------------

Back at the Circus:

Peony patted down his pockets in a frenzy, running around his trailer,

"Darnit!! Where's my Credit Card?!" he exclaimed,

"Mieu...?" Mieu watched the Ringmaster with confusion

---------------

"Of course he did," Jade said, his smile becoming a smirk, "Otherwise that would be stealing." Everyone sent one another a skeptic look.

"Why is Peony friends with him, again?" Luke whispered to Gai behind his menu,

"Beats me," he whispered back, "I'm still trying to figure out why Erika likes him."

"Next Dizzy Talent," Gina announced, back on the stage. "Magic, by uh..." she squinted at the clipboard, "...I can't read the name. Oh well." No one even had time to look at the act, for Kayla had returned.

"Ready to order, yet?" Kayla asked, another pad of paper and pen in hand. Everyone's orders seemed pretty normal; burgers, tofu, chicken...then they got to Luke,

"Uh--the chicken sandwich." he said as calmly as he could. He'd never really had to decide what he wanted before.

"Alright--" she finished scribbling down on her pad of paper, "You're orders will be out in a little while."

"Tada--" the person on stage announced, "A do--ve!! Hey!" the white dove flew from his hand, and it successfully took a dump on the table where the green-haired man was sitting,

"Ew!" the woman exclaimed when it almost hit her,

"Claire!!" the man screamed, overly-loudly,

"This place is a madhouse...!" Luke mumbled, taking a sip of his Cherry Pepsi. The carbonation danced on his tongue as he swallowed; a sudden burp came from his lips, "Oh--uh--heh, sorry." he laughed.

They continued watching the magician onstage fail at doing magic, getting distracted by the occasional plate/glass that went flying through the air. Soon the magician got booed off stage.

Kayla, with Kim in toe, returned to the table after about twenty minutes, passing out everyone's food. The chicken sandwich was surprisingly large, surrounded by odd white stuff and thin golden-brown rectangles. He remembered the 'frenched' potatoes in the mansion, and figured the golden-brown rectangles were the 'French fries'. Everyone began eating as Gina once again appeared onstage. After glancing at the bar Luke saw that Cid was still there; Vincent walking out of the door. Vincent didn't want to bother paying such a large tab, and left Cid there. Joe then proceeded to haul Cid over the bar, the man falling on the floor with a dull thud.

"Joe, where's Cid?" Gina asked,

"...Can I keep him?" Joe asked,

"..." Gina thought for a minute, "...Eh, sure. Just don't let him drink all the beer."

"Yayz!"

"Hey--you can't just abduct someone--" a patron at the bar started. They were then shot with seltzer from a dispenser,

"Wanna say that again?" Joe demanded, pulling another seltzer dispenser out and aiming them like guns at the patron. He began shooting seltzer at the patron when they tried to make an argument, all the while saying that he was adding 'glasses of seltzer' onto his tab.

"My, my. This place is so charming." Jade commented, sipping his scotch.

"Look, the foods coming out of that window." Anise said through a bite of 'Chicken-Finger'. There was a small square cut out of the wall at the end of the bar; swinging shutters blocking the view in. A tray was suddenly thrust out and seemed to be about to fall; however Kayla seemed to suddenly appear there, and catch the tray. She then walked off to deliver it.

"Look at the sign above the door..." Natalia said, "'Do Not Look Inside. Or Else'."

"That only makes me more curious about what's in there..." Erika said.

"Look below it," Tear said, "'Curiosity is Blasphemy'."


Kirsten, Kayla, Kim, Joe, Gina, and Stephen (Super Steve)

are all my friends in Real Life --High-5's-- Thanks guys!!

and I thank them for helping me come up w/ random things for this story:)